Murray Hill & New Providence, New Jersey, May 17, 2010 - Linde North America headquarters in Murray Hill, New Jersey, has re-qualified for the Responsible Care® certification from the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

Linde North America is a member of The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company. Responsible Care is a globally recognized best practice initiative to improve safety, health, environment and security performance by member companies throughout the world. Certification is granted by the ACC to those companies that demonstrate adherence to a strict set of standards that are designed to improve safety, health, environment and security performance.

“We are extremely proud and excited about this certification as we are committed to being recognized as a Responsible Care company,” said Patrick Murphy, president of Linde North America, which has been a member of the ACC for over 60 years. “Working toward -- and receiving -- this certification falls right in line with our goals as a high performance organization and our vision to be the leading gases and engineering company.”

This is the second time Linde’s Murray Hill facility has received the Responsible Care certification. It had received its initial certification in May 2008. Since that time, the company has completed certification of 12 of its production plants located throughout the U.S. Four more Linde plants are scheduled for certification later this year.

Implementation of the Responsible Care management system is a “plan-do-check-act” process. Companies must first plan – that is, identify, assess and evaluate potential hazards and risks associated with their products, processes, distribution and other operations – and establish goals and objectives to address any significant hazards and risks. Next, they must do what they have planned. Communicating with employees and other stakeholders is essential.

Then companies must check their progress. This stage highlights performance measurement and corrective action. Finally, companies must act. Senior management periodically reviews the continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the Responsible Care management system and makes any necessary changes to enhance performance. The results of this process are shared with a company’s stakeholders.

A key part of the Responsible Care management system process is mandatory certification by an independent, accredited auditor. All companies taking part in the process undergo headquarters and facility audits to assure that they have a structure and system in place to measure, manage and verify performance. Lloyds of London was the independent auditor for Linde North America’s Murray Hill, New Jersey audit.

The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 48,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2009 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 11.2 billion (USD 15.3 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services.

Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.